sequel patrol: BEING JULIA 2 – CURTAINS DOWN

All right, we’re going there. In an effort to muse over the extensions of story lines we were left wanting more of, it’s time to take a gander at what could have been. All those prestige films with the magnificent characters that you wish you could see for an additional film – they’re getting their second day in the sun. And in an effort to have more Godfather, Part II and less Elizabeth: The Golden Age, bear with me as I ponder a sequel to 2004’s beloved instant classic Being Julia. Where last we left off [SPOILER ALERT] Ms. Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) had wowed critics and audiences alike as she took down her rival and young ingenue Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch) on stage in Nowadays. Our heroine had ditched her young lover Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans) and was back in the arms of her curmudgeonly husband Michael (Jeremy Irons). With best friend and assistant Evie (Juliet Stevenson) in tow, Julia’s career had gone from aging thespian to firecracker comeback kid.

The story continues as Julia takes a break from Nowadays after a healthy run in the theater to visit her son Roger (Tom Sturridge) at school, only to find that he’s taken up with a now-forgotten Avice Crichton. Avice and Tom had parted ways after the on-stage takedown debacle had left her fleeing her contract to the British countryside. And having been spurned by Julia’s husband Michael, she was left to find a new source of income, this time in the arms of her former rival’s college-age son. Mayhem ensues as Julia is forced to assist in planning a wedding between Avice and Roger, while wealthy philanthropist and Julia-admirer Dolly (Miriam Margolyes) hatches a plan to get Julia to return to London for a new film she’d commissioned. Julia balks at the idea of transitioning to screen work, though, and the part is offered to up-and-coming starlet Rebecca Andrews (Emily Blunt). But when Avice’s new role in the Lambert family lands her a part in the film thanks to Michael’s producer credit, Julia can’t help herself as she writes herself a part in the film to take down the conniving Crichton and cocky Andrews.

So what do you think? That’s my crack at sequelizing Being Julia. What do you think happened after the curtains fell?